Just like Eric Berry at Tennessee, Jevan Snead at Ole Miss and Charles Scott at LSU.

"I was kind of looking forward to that," Curran said before making his intentions clear. "I'm just kidding."

It's no joke how Georgia is embracing a team-first mentality after the departure of NFL No. 1 overall pick quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno.

Coach Mark Richt has sold his players on the idea that the star of the team is the team. He wanted to stress that theme on the cover of the media guide, which features mascot Uga VII with a shot of more than 20 players gathered together in uniform.

It's the first time since 1992 that individual players weren't featured. That year fireworks were on the cover to celebrate the centennial of Georgia football.

"I think our team understands the only chance they have is to play together, work together, earn it as a team," Richt said. "I think they've don e a great job of buying into that, preparing throughout this offseason for that type of season."

Players say the preseason No. 1 Bulldogs of last year lacked the unity that this bunch has.

"That had a lot to do with our downfall," safety Reshad Jones said. "We weren't as one. We were high ranked. Other guys were looking at other big-name guys. We weren't focused on the task ahead of us."

On offense, those big name guys were Stafford and Moreno - stars who showed up in highlights and led the SEC in passing and rushing, respectively. They were guys players expected to pick up the team when it needed a boost.

"You kind of felt that you could depend on Stafford to make the throw or you could depend on Knowshon to make that one run that's going to change the game," said senior receiver Michael Moore. "Now everyone's thinking it might be me to make that play."

The most talented teams don't always translate that firepower into championships.

"We saw what the lack of discipline did to our team last year with the number of talented guys that we had," Curran said. "We realize that to make it through the season, the leadership and the team concept are going to be the things that makes us successful and what sets us apart."

Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo says he tries to stress that every year.

"As a coach, you're always going to talk about team and playing for each other," Bobo said. "Year in and year out for the most part we've done that and I think that's why we've stuck together through some bad times and some bad stretches and ended up finishing strong. Some years are better than others and a lot of that is due to your leadership."

Florida coach Urban Meyer said great players can destroy chemistry.

"Go watch the NFL, go watch other professional sports, go watch college sports," Meyer said. "I had a team like that one time where the great player destroys it because it's all about him. "

Richt said he doesn't think there's been a "serious issue" with team chemistry at Georgia.

"That's probably the thing that I look for the most whether it's in the staff or the team," Richt said. "If I see anything starting to brew, I try to nip it immediately rather than wait three months or three weeks and then have a bigger problem that is hard to undo.

"I liken it to a marriage," Richt continued. "There's a difference between a husband and wife when they start stacking bricks between them and they don't start nipping things in the bud. Before you know it, there's a big ol' brick wall and it's hard to knock that down. I'm always on the lookout for that."

The no-star system only goes so far.

You can still find the numbers 35 (Curran), 8 (Green) and 14 ( Joe Cox) on Georgia jerseys at sporting goods stores. Those are the numbers that Nike requested this year, associate athletic director Alan Thomas said. The numbers that are always available are Herschel Walker's No. 34 and No. 1.

Georgia has shown before it can win even after replacing marquee players.

The year after David Pollack, David Greene, Thomas Davis, Odell Thurman, Reggie Brown and Fred Gibson departed, the Bulldogs' won the SEC championship in 2005.

"They had more stars then we did," Moore said. "They had more big-name guys than last year. Last year was Knowshon, Stafford and [Mohamed] Massaquoi, every once in a while they mentioned him."

Bryan McClendon, now Georgia's running backs coach, was a starting receiver on that 2005 team.

"You see it takes a lot more than just talent," he said. "It takes us being a team, it takes us working hard, it takes us loving each other."

Georgia hopes those tighter bonds can help make a difference in 2009.

"We're not interested in individual stars right now," Richt said. "We're interested in the team shining right now."